Mauritania leader rejects accusations he seeks 3rd term

By Mohamed Bakay

NOUAKCHOTT

Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz on Thursday dismissed accusations of seeking to amend the country’s constitution to allow him to run for a third term in office.

“I have spoken a lot about the third-term issue,” Ould Abdel Aziz told reporters in Nouakchott, adding: “I will not change the constitution to allow a third term; I have said this on more than one occasion.”

He went on to stress his “personal conviction” that “changing constitutions for the sake of a single individual is unseemly”.

On Saturday, the National Forum for Democracy and Unity (FNDU), Mauritania’s main opposition coalition, accused Ould Abdel Aziz of seeking a third term as president.

The FNDU has repeatedly urged the Mauritanian public to reject what it describes as a plan by the president to remain in power beyond the two terms allowed by the country’s national charter.

Mauritania is gearing up to hold parliamentary and municipal elections on Sept. 1, in which scores of political parties will vie for seats on the country’s 146-member legislative assembly and on municipal councils.

For the first time, parties will also compete for seats on Mauritania’s 13 regional councils.

Some 1.4 million Mauritanians are registered to vote in the upcoming polls, according to official figures.

While opposition figures have questioned the integrity of the electoral process, the government -- led by Ould Abdel Aziz’s Union for the Republic party -- has vowed to conduct “free and transparent” elections.